Note: As this is a two disc set I am splitting the blog into two parts.
Sorry it took so long for me to write this, I had a lot of papers to do for school. Now that I have a free summer ahead of me I plan to turn out reviews on a weekly basis. I am following up on my second request to review Pink Floyd's classic "The Wall." Just like with Led Zeppelin, I only have a minor knowledge of Pink Floyd's set list. In that regard again I am going to review this album free of any pre-existing biases on the music. According to Wikipedia, this album is about Pink Pinkerton, who is slowly stricken with tragedy through out his life. Becuase of that Pinkerton isolates himself inside a wall to escape the pain. The album was inspired by Rodger Waters being angered by fans at a live concert where they were being extremely rude.
Title:The wall Disc 1
Year: 1979
Genre: Progressive Rock, Rock Opera
Artist(s): Pink Floyd
Copyright: © 1979 Columbia Records, US Release
Songs:
1. In The Flesh?-
This song starts off calm and quiet, but becomes much dire and louder in an instant. It continues to sound dire and then mellows out once the lyrics come in. The lyrics in this song are having Pinkerton narrate out his life after he is sealed inside the wall, telling the fans what they hear is what they get and to see his descent into madness. The emotion that comes to mind is anger, and a strong sense of seriousness. After the lyrics finish we hear the singer queuing different stage things while the band continues to play the song, and the song ends with a plane crashing. Overall, a solid introduction to the album with good emoting behind it. 4 out of 5 stars.
2. The Thin Ice-
This song opens with a baby crying, and then the music coming with the lyrics at the same time. The very dark lyrics in this track tell of Pinkerton's mother telling her newborn child that she loves him, but not to be surprised if his life gets stricken with tragedy and that he may loose his mind because of it. The emotions that come to mind are love, and then a strong sense of darkness at the reality of the world. After the singing stops the song continues with a guitar solo and the band playing until the song stops on a suspended chord leading into the next song. Overall, a very haunting track with excellent changes in emotion. 5 out of 5 stars.
3. Another Brick in the Wall Part 1-
This song starts in a kind of dark bluesy kind of way. The singing starts off soft and gets louder at climactic moments. In this song Pinkerton's father dies oversees in World War II, hence exposing Pinkerton to tragedy, and this is when he begins building the wall to isolate himself. The song continues at a consistent pace where we hear noises of people talking and kids playing in the background with the song transitioning perfectly to the next. Notable work in this section is Waters on bass and David Gilmour on guitar. Overall, an interesting track that elicits powerful emotions. 5 out of 5 stars.
4. The Happiest Days of Our Lives-
If I am hearing the opening the song right then the opening has a helicopter and Adolph Hitler speaking which smoothly and quickly becomes an angry Scottish teacher yelling at some kids. The song takes a strong change with a minor bass solo and the band jamming then the lyrics come in. The lyrics tell of how in Pinkerton's days in grammar school that some teachers beat up students at any excuse they could, and that they were not his 'happiest days.' The singing starts off calm, then becomes more angry. After the singing stops we hear a church quire singing harmonies over into the next song. Overall, an interesting track with a smooth transition. 4 out of 5 stars.
5. Another Brick in The Wall Part 2-
The harmonies stop with a screeching sound, and the song starts with Waters singing in harmony with a guitar. This song is about the kids in Pinkerton's school standing up to the abusive teachers saying that they don't need this crap and won't be controlled anymore. There a short pauses of instrumentation that go between the singing, and eventually the song goes to the chorus but with Waters harmonizing with a child quire. It might just be me, but the kid's thick accents just make this song all the more better to display how pissed off they all are. After the chorus with the kid quire we are treated to a very good guitar solo followed by solid drums and a loud bass track. The track finishes with Scottish school teachers yelling at students and the sound of a phone getting louder. This is the best known song from this disc of the album, and I can see why. The emotion is very rebellious and the guitar playing is phenomenal. Overall a very powerful piece, especially to people who hated school like I used to. 5 out of 5 stars.
6. Mother-
The song opens with someone breathing and Waters singing with an acoustic guitar. The lyrics are about Pinkerton speaking to his mother asking her for guidance in life, and she says she will be extremely protective of her child, not letting him make any decisions for him self including not letting him grow up and choosing his girlfriends. Hence showing she is overprotective. The acoustic guitar continues while Waters is singing. The other instruments come in when as Waters finishes and Gilmour comes in singing. The shift in emotion from bashful and uncertain to comforted and empowering via the keyboard is simply phenomenal by Richard Wright. The vocalists trade off and they both sing and emote very well. The song ends with waters sadly asking a question and the song ends on a single chord. The is a bit of a pause before the next song. Overall, this song is amazing for the way the vocalists play off each-other and the way the keyboards sets the mood so perfectly. 5 out of 5 stars.
7. Goodbye Blue Sky-
The song starts with the sound of birds and an airplane and a child announcing the plane's presence. The instruments start by switching between a calm instrumentation and a very threatening sound and continues sounding dire until the vocalists come in singing the same line together. The lyrics tell of Pinkerton's and everyone's fear of being nuked straight to hell back in the cold war years. This fear is not well known to my generation, but I can only imagine the sense of hyper anxiety people must have felt knowing they could be vaporized at any second of the day back then. We also get what I believe to be an Aldous Huxley reference in the "dawn of a brave new world" lyrics. The emotions keep switching between calm and dire likely representing denial and fear. The song ends with the sounds of an airplane in the background with the calm music in front of it. Overall, this song really gets me thinking and in a retrospective way paints a great picture of how people felt during the Cold War and World War 2 to a lesser extent. 5 out of 5 stars.
8. Empty Spaces-
This short song carries over from Goodbye Blue Sky and becomes much more angry, showing Pinkerton's sanity crumbling even further in how delightfully dark the music is. We hear the the band playing together and then we hear a backwards message.This song has the only true backwards message in music at the time, saying to send "your answer" to old Pink at the "funny farm". In addition to that Pinkerton is asking how should he fill the empty spaces in the wall? This is done by way of very frightening and insane vocals. The question is answered when we transition to the next song. Overall, this song is short but amazingly creepy and truly matches the sound of what insanity should sound like to me. 5 out of 5 stars.
9. Young Lust-
With an instant transition we get a very blues rock driven piece that makes you feel like you are doing something bad, but it feels damn good which makes perfect sense considering the lyrics. The lyrics answer the question from the previous song by Pinkerton saying he wants a dirty woman in his life to help dull the pain and shed away from the protection of his mother. The phone message at the end seems to foreshadow marital troubles for a couple. The instrumentation in the song switches between bluesy, and more of a 70s metal kind of sound as we are treated with good harmonized singing and another very good guitar solo from Gilmour along with good organ playing by Wright. The solo continues until we get the final chorus. At the end the band continues to jam and we hear the phone message, and the song stops with the sound of a phone off the hook. Overall, this piece is very enjoyable in how it can make you feel sinful and enjoy it. 5 out of 5 stars.
10. One of My Turns-
The song starts with the unhooked phone and then goes into increasingly dark synthesizer playing over Pinkerton's wife talking to him while he is ignoring her watching a movie. The lyrics tell of Pinkerton's wife, who is asking him for different things while he is watching a movie ignoring her, and he is saying that his love is starting to wither. In this case Pinkerton's inner insanity is starting to frighten his wife, and the song ends with her running away. I may be mistaken but I think they made a Beatles reference in this song by the lyrics "Day after day, loves turns grey". Anyways, Waters emotions include apathy, loss of hope, and delirious amusement. The song in the first half is Waters singing with Wright accompanying him, and then all of a sudden it breaks into more chaotic music representing Pinkerton's breakdown into insanity by threatening his wife with an axe. All the while the guitar solo and all of the other instruments represent how much fun Pinkerton is having. The song stops with Waters being surprised and enraged by his wife running away. Overall, this song starts dark and mellow but turns a lot crazier later on, which was achieved perfectly in the way the band performed. 5 out of 5 stars.
11. Don't Leave Me Now
The song starts off very dark with sounds of heavy breathing panned into the right speaker. The singing is very desperate and sad. The lyrics tell of Pinkerton coming out of his haze and begging his wife to please come back. The song continues at the same pace with the song being very sad and trippy, but does slowly pick in insanity showing how evil Pinkerton has become as he wants her back to abuse her. In the last minute of the song we get a climax of Pinkerton sounding truly desperate as if he was on his last knees by way of the guitar and vocals playing off each other. The song ends with different television shows being played over each other with a taping noise, and the song finishes by Pinkerton smashing a beer bottle and screaming. Overall, to have fit that much intensity and insanity in a little over four minutes shows true skill. 5 out 5 stars.
12. Another Brick in The Wall Part 3-
The song starts off with the beer bottle being smashed and Pinkerton breaking everything in his site. Water's singing brings Pinkerton's anger and insanity at society full circle. The lyrics bring Pinkerton's isolation full circle saying he wont need anything anymore but his wall, as everything was just bricks in the wall. The song ends with Pinkerton saying everyone was just bricks in his wall. Overall, this song is short but the dark tonality make an excellent conclusion to what I am going to call "The Brick in the Wall Trilogy". 5 out of 5 stars.
13. Good Bye Cruel World-
The songs has the same music as the end of the previous song, but with an extreme jump in volume as soon as the song starts. Before the lyrics come in the music goes into a loop then fades into the bass playing a short fill until the lyrics come in. The lyrics tell of Pinkerton saying goodbye to everyone from inside the wall, and nothing can make him change his mind to make him leave it. The sound of the music towards the end is slow and happy, likely representing Pinkerton has reached his salvation. But this salvation is in the form of denial. For the end we get a sudden stop in music a moment of pause signifying that it is time to listen to the B side of the record. Overall, it is a nice conclusion to the epic journey into Madness that was "The Wall" disc one. 5 out of 5 stars.
Audio Mixing:
The mixing on this album so far has been phenomenal. I can hear every instrument as clear as day. The drums are never drowned out, the bass is delightfully prominent, the guitar is prominent but not overbearing, and the singing blends perfectly. The mixing on this album is the new standard of what I will compare other albums too when I think of the term "balanced."
Singing:
The singing on this album from start to finish was perfect. Every emotion hit home to amazing affect, and the way each member of the band harmonizes like in "Goodbye Blue Sky", "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2" with Waters and the kids quire, and Young Lust as well as that one time where they sang "a memory" in "Another Brick in the Wall Part 1". And also how the singers trade off each other sounds absolutely amazing like in the song "Mother."
Instrumentation:
The instrumentation is just as perfect as the singing at representing the change in emotion and reinforcing the sense of a descent into insanity. The instrumentation does what it should by setting the stage to make the album great, having the extra studio noises blending perfectly into the background, and the singing perfects the entire mix creating a perfect harmony of amazing music.
What I didn't like:
There was not a single thing I disliked, and true some songs only got the four star rating however, it would be hard to make every song amazing before it all started to sound the same. I think pink Floyd was saving their best for certain parts. Also another short coming is not on the album, but on the radio. When people play "Another Brick in the Wall part 2" on the radio it sounds good but the message isn't the same without the surrounding songs to reinforce it.
What I did like:
The strong sense of balance this band has and the great command of emotion and experimentation they possess via their singing and instrumentation.
Who would enjoy this album:
Pretty much anyone with at least a partially strong constitution. Otherwise anyone can listen to this album, you don't need to do drugs to enjoy it. :)
Overall:
What can I say that I haven't said already? The singing is amazing, the instrumentation provides a solid backbone and is equally as amazing as the singing, the mixing is clear cut and perfect, and the entire experience is like a slow moving roller coaster of human emotion. Plus we get references to the Beatles and Huxley. True not all of the songs are amazing, but Pink Floyd made up for that in how they managed to change the pace but keep the sense of falling into insanity so nicely with their most epic songs. The command of experimentation is so good that I am willing to say that if The Beatles began experimentation in rock music, then Pink Floyd perfected it. If you haven't heard this album do your self a HUGE favor and check it out. You will not be dissapointed!!
Rating: *****
"The Happiest Days of Our Lives" and "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2" video from the 1982 film "The Wall":
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